The evaluation of public policy for the creation of businesses: An empirical study for the Spanish case

The promotion of greater entrepreneurial dynamism through an increase in the rate of business creation has become one of the primary concerns of those local and national authorities who use policies of support for new entrepreneurs as a central instrument in achieving their objectives of employment and economic growth. Such policies are among the most important instruments of government action for job creation, in addition to assuming a significant source of expenditure. The importance of the objective, and its associated costs, are of enormous significance in evaluating whether governments are achieving their stated goals; that is, whether they are really taking full advantage of these investments to create businesses and to assure their future survival. This article analyzes the influence of public subsidies, among other variables, in the survival of companies from a specific region - the Autonomous Community of Aragon - representative of the Spanish economy.